In Sickness And In Stubbornness
by Totidem Verbis
Summary: "I'll make sure he gets better, even if it kills him," Rin declared and carefully picked up the wooden tray with the teapot and single teacup.


**Author's Note:** This is just a short little one-shot written for one of my closest friends and biggest supporter. I hope you feel better soon, **Sakihanajima1**!

 **Word Count:** 2310

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Rin Sasaki paused at the top of the steep staircase and sucked in a deep breath. She hadn't enjoyed running up and down the staircase that led to Genkai's temple when she'd studied under the famous psychic as a teenager, and she enjoyed it even less now that she was an adult. Yeah, she kept in shape but she was only human. She didn't spend too much dallying around at the top of the stairs, because she wasn't at Genkai's for a social call. Nope, this was a house call.

The courtyard was empty and quiet when she walked through, and bright blue eyes looked over all the new flowers. Genkai had always kept the temple orderly, but the flowers were a nice touch. It was hard to believe that this was the same place where Genkai had trained Rin to strengthen her control over her spirit energy, it looked far too nice to have seen that kind of torture. Er, training. Rin definitely meant training.

"What took you so long?!" Yusuke yelled before she'd even reached the temple. He was standing on the porch with the door slid open behind him, and Rin narrowed her eyes up at him.

"I didn't have to come, you know," she huffed. She would have really given him a piece of her mind, but his hair was sticking up like he'd been pulling on it instead of being gelled down and his eyes were wide with a little bit of panic.

"But you're our personal doctor. You signed papers," Yusuke said with a grin.

"The correct term is healer, Urameshi. Now where's my patient?" Yusuke hooked a thumb over his shoulder and then turned around, and Rin walked up the few stairs leading into the temple and followed after him.

Before Yusuke became Genkai's apprentice, Rin trained with the older psychic. Genkai helped her to increase her spirit energy and taught her how to have nearly perfect control, but they had a difference of opinions when it came to how to use spirit energy. Genkai was a fighter, and she used her energy both defensively and offensively. Rin preferred to use her energy to heal others. So after she'd learned control, Rin and Genkai had gone their separate ways. They'd kept in touch, because Rin respected the older psychic, but they'd never met up again until the barrier between the Human World and the Demon World was dropped. Then humans became aware of demons, things got a little crazy for a while, and now everything was starting to normalize. Laws were being put in place to help with the transition, and Rin had an agreement with the Spirit Detective Team. If they got hurt, they called her to patch them up. If someone was giving her a hard time and she didn't want to deal with them, she called one of them to take care of it. It was an arrangement that worked for all of them.

"I told you not to call her, detective." Rin froze in the doorway to one of the bedrooms, and bright red eyes glared directly at her.

" _Oh, great. It's_ _ **him**_ _."_

For the most part, Rin got along with everyone on the Spirit Detective Team and the people closest to them. She regularly had dinner with Yusuke and Keiko, and all of the demons that seemed to rotate through their home. Kuwabara was always a delight to be around, and she went shopping with Yukina on Wednesdays to get healing herbs before they had their weekly lunch. Kurama was the first person she went to when something had stumped her, and he came to her whenever he needed someone to talk to about various ways that energy could be manipulated.

The one team member that Rin didn't particularly get along with?

"Hiei," Rin said and finally stepped into the room. The fire demon was lying on the bed and buried under at least three blankets, and he looked miserable. The tip of his nose was red, and his usual spiky hair was slicked down just a little with sweat.

"We had to go through a lot of snow on our last mission, and I think Hiei has the flu or something," Yusuke said as Rin and Hiei continued to glare at one another.

"I didn't know fire demons could get sick from the cold," Rin mused as she moved over to the bed. Hiei's glare only intensified as she got closer, but Rin was used to dealing with his surly attitude and just ignored him.

There was no point in attempting to take Hiei's temperature. As a fire demon, his average temperature would be much higher than a humans' and most other demons'. So instead of wasting time, Rin stood next to the bed where Hiei's torso was hidden by several thick blankets and raised her hands. Her eyes closed as she focused on feeling Hiei's energy, and she heard a quiet grunt as her energy started to brush against his. Hmm, something definitely felt off. His energy was much lower than usual, and it felt…lukewarm. His energy had always been scorching, so he really must be sick.

"So, is he gonna make it?" Yusuke asked her. She could hear the amusement in his tone, and her eyes opened as she looked over her shoulder at him. The look in her eyes must have shown her annoyance at him asking something so stupid, because he raised a hand and rubbed nervously at the back of his neck. "Right, he's all yours. I gotta get going or Keiko's going to kill me. Call if you need help!"

Yusuke all but ran out of the room, and Rin sighed as she turned back to look down at Hiei. It looked like he was starting to shiver under the blankets, and she knew that he was only in this position because he was stubborn. He'd probably thought that he didn't need to take any precautions with the cold, and now he was sick. He tried to glare up at her, but a harsh coughing fit caused his eyes to scrunch up and ruined the angry expression he'd been trying for.

"I'll get something to help with that," Rin said and turned on her heel. She could hear Hiei grumbling behind her, but she ignored him and started navigating the temple.

It only took her a minute to reach the kitchen, and she was surprised to see Genkai already sitting at the table. The older psychic didn't seem surprised at her presence though, so she must have known that Rin was coming. Which made sense. Yusuke wouldn't have called her without checking in with Genkai first. Rin smiled a little as she walked over to where Genkai was sitting, and the older woman pointed at the tray already sitting on the table.

"I tried to give it to him earlier, but he refused. I thought about shoving the whole teapot down his throat, but Yusuke told me that you were coming. Maybe you'll have better luck with him," Genkai told her. Hiei hated appearing weak and hated accepting help even more, so Rin knew that she had her work cut out for her. (She really wished that Yukina was around. She was happy that her friend was spending a weekend away with the love of her life, but Yukina was the only one that Hiei was actually nice to. Since Yukina was gone though, it was up to Rin to heal him.)

"I'll make sure he gets better, even if it kills him," Rin declared and carefully picked up the wooden tray with the teapot and single teacup.

"The correct phrase is: even if it kills me," Genkai pointed out. Rin raised a brow at that and tipped one side of her lips up into a smirk, and she could see a little bit of amusement in Genkai's eyes as she waved Rin off.

Rin hummed to herself as she walked through the hallways again, and she shouldered the bedroom door open. Hiei was still lying in the exact same position, and his glare didn't have the same punch as it usually did. That was just fine with her, because she was already becoming tired of always being glared at. She carefully placed the tray on the nightstand next to the twin bed, and she could feel Hiei watching her as she poured some of the hot tea into the little cup. She could smell the healing herbs and honey, and it'd help soothe Hiei's sore throat and temper his coughing. If she could get him to drink it.

"I do not need your help, witch." Rin's eyes rolled as she stepped up to the bed, and she lowered herself down so that she was sitting next to the lump of Hiei's body.

"How many times do I have to correct you? I'm not a witch. Just a human psychic." A human psychic gifted with the ability to heal both humans and demons with her spirit energy, but still just a human all the same.

"You are a-" Hiei was usually a demon of few words, he mostly communicated with her through growls and looks that would cause most beings to cower, so Rin used the rare opportunity to lean forward and press the teacup against his parted lips. Hiei didn't fight her off because that would just result in him being covered in hot tea, but the heat in his eyes increased as he was forced to drink the tea that would ultimately help him.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Rin asked after the cup had been drained.

"When this is over, I am going to kill you." It wasn't the first time that Hiei had threatened her life and probably wouldn't be the last, so Rin just hummed a little in answer. She stretched her arm out to place the cup back on the tray, and she trained her eyes on Hiei's shivering form.

"To kill me, you'll need to be stronger than you are right now. So, try to behave and hold still while I work. Or I'll leave you like this." Hiei looked like he was ready to jump up and fight her, but his sick body wouldn't allow him to. His head turned away from her instead of replying, and Rin took that as the acceptance that it was.

It was time for her to get to work.

 **.xXx.**

Hiei was loathe to admit it, but the human was actually starting to heal him. After threatening to leave him in his weakened state, she'd moved up to join him on the small bed. Her back was pressed against the headboard, and she'd locked her hands around his head so that the back of his head was braced against her thigh. Her hands were soft on the sides of his face now, and her energy was washing through him at a steady rate. She kept her energy light, so that he wouldn't fight it off instinctually, and he could already feel the ache in his muscles starting to lessen.

"Feeling anything yet?" Her soft voice seemed loud in the quiet room, and Hiei opened his eyes to look up at her. As if sensing the look, her eyes opened and looked down into his. The bright blue of her eyes had turned into a shining violet as she used her spirit energy, and the color seemed to shine out of her eyes and caused the pale skin under her eyes to look bruised.

"You work too slow," was his answer. Her smile stretched her cheeks, and he could see the line of her teeth from between her full lips. Her thumbs moved in gentle circles against his temples as another wave of her energy mixed with his, and the stuffy feeling in his head started to ease.

"If you had just called sooner instead of letting yourself get worse, this wouldn't take so long." The cold that seemed to be buried in his bones was starting to dissipate, and he could feel his own energy starting to increase.

He may have an intense dislike for most humans, possibly hatred depending on his mood, but he could admit to himself that Rin Sasaki wasn't as useless as most humans. She actually had a decent amount of spirit energy, and she might even be a formidable warrior if she didn't only use her energy to heal. Hiei mostly tolerated her because his sister and teammates were fond of her, because he'd never had a reason to have her heal him before now. He'd seen her heal the others and knew she was competent, but he was surprised that the sickness that had gripped him was already fading.

"I would have healed on my own." He would have, but it would have taken longer. She laughed quietly at his words and let her fingertips sink into his hair, and he forced his eyes to stay open when they threatened to close at the (soothing) feeling.

"That's true, but this way is much quicker." Her too bright eyes were looking down at him again, and her smile seemed a little more gentle as her energy washed over him to heal the lingering aches in his body. He made a quiet sound deep in his chest at the relief that swept through him, and her nails lightly scratched against his scalp as her eyes shifted back into their natural blue color. "You know, I think I'm starting to grow on you."

"Hn." She laughed again and continued to massage his scalp, right where his head had been pounding for the past few days, and he finally let his eyes close. The human woman was not growing on him, but he would let her continue for now. Just until he'd regained his full strength.


End file.
